The X Gene
by Undead Honey Cake
Summary: A mutant young Clare must fight for her place in the world as she learns to deal with the pros and cons of being a mutant. Chapters 1-3 origin story, Chapter 4 main plot and Canons, feel free to skip ahead, won't lose anything. Please Read and REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1 High School

**Author's note: Chapter's 1 through 3 are Clare getting her powers, basically her origin story, feel free to skip ahead to chapter 4 if you want to see the canon character's as that's when things really get moving. **

**I do not own x-men, but I do own Clare**

Chapter 1

The cold smell of winter was in the air, harsh and sharp on the nose. The smell of change, a smell Clare had always liked, she had always loved how the air changed as a new season came, but today, it was bugging her. The idea of the cold, and the snow, she didn't like the thought of it, and she couldn't place way, she had always liked the cold. Clare's 14 year old mind was buzzing as she tried to figure out the puzzle of her own mind. The walk to school was a long one, and while her MP3 player helped but only so much.

Clare wasn't someone that stood out a school that much was easy to see, she wasn't a cheerleader, and in a small town, that was a big deal. She was smart, got rather good grades without trying, but she didn't do much outside of school, she wasn't part of any clubs or teams, and had only a small group of friends. None of this bugged her though, Clare was happy with her life, or as happy as she could be, she believed things would be better when she went away from here, when she went to college, but that was still 3 almost 4 years away.

There was one small problem Clare had in her high school, one that went by the name of Rachel, Ray to her friends; Clare did not call her Ray. Rachel was just what you think she would be, that girl, that popular girl, that cheerleader. She wasn't the most popular, only being in grade nine, but she was one of the prettiest girls in grade nine, and Rachel knew this. She used it too, she liked when people fawned over her, she wanted to be told that she was beautiful. Most of the girls in grade nine wanted to be her friend; they knew in the long run that it would pay off. That one day Rachel would be the one ruling the school, at least from a student's point of view. There were those that weren't interested in being her friend, these where mostly those that worried their grades more then there social standing. Clare wasn't really one of these, she did care about her grade, but that wasn't why she hadn't made any moves to be Rachel's friend, the real reason was Clare wanted to be herself, and to be Rachel's friend she would need to be someone she wasn't, so Clare tried not to stand out. She knew that if you weren't Rachel's friend you where her enemy, this was a girl that only saw the world in black and white, and because of this misguided ideal, Rachel treated Clare like her enemy.

It seemed that this morning, there was no luck in the cards for miss Clare Laake, just as she got to her locker who showed up but Rachel. All Clare wanted to do was smash her face against her locker door, but she couldn't do that, so she turned to Rachel, and putting a quick, and very fake smile she said.

"Hello Rachel, how are you this morning?" Rachel didn't say anything she moved around Clare, pushing her locker shut to get to her own. It was very easy to see the differences between the two girls. Rachel was tall at 5'9" and thin, a little too thin for her height, were Clare was 5'6" and had more curves. Clare seemed healthier. Rachel had the classic popular girl blond hair, hair that one could tell was dyed, Clare's was just mousy brown. The one similarity between the two was their blue eyes.

After Rachel got her books out of her locker, she turned and looked at Clare, she wasn't making eye contact with Clare, as if she wasn't worth it. At last she said. "I hope that next time I'm here, you're not." She then left. Clare breathed a sigh of relief, she knew it wasn't a hope or request, Rachel was basically ordering Clare not to be at her locker when Rachel was at her's. Still she felt that she got off rather easy that morning.

Clare headed off to her classes, trying not to think too much about Rachel. She was worried, Rachel was the type of girl that could make your life hell if she wanted too, and Clare was only in grade nine, she had to step carefully so that she might survive high school.

At lunch Clare took her normal set in the café, things where as set as movies would have one believe, sure the same people normally sat together, but not always at the same time and it wasn't as horrible taboo to sit at the wrong table. Still though Clare liked her spot and almost always sat in the same place. As she sat eating her bagged lunch she watched the other students, just watched and ate almost mindlessly.

She took a look at the other students not in her grade, it was interesting to watch, it seemed that by the time one got into grade 12 the social boundaries seemed to break down to a point that no one cared if the other was a cheerleader or not. That would be nice, but then again, maybe it was only something that happened with this group of grade 12s. There was the chance that nothing would change between the students in her grade. As Clare watched, once again lost in her own thoughts, she saw a group of boys heading towards her. She looked to the side and saw that she was the only one at the table. She nodded to herself an moved to the edge the table to let them have some were to eat.

Once they sat down Clare glanced over at them, they were in her grade, and she knew a couple of them. They were all rather good looking; Clare had art class with three of them, one of which always created a distraction for her. Ryan Norman, he was very attractive, and seemed friendly enough. Clare had yet to work up the courage to talk to him, and she didn't know if she had it now. She reached into her bag and pulled out her MP3 again, an easy way for them to ignore her and for her to ignore them, which at the moment was more important.

The boys say down and didn't pay her any mind. She listened to her music and they ate. Just as they were leaving Ryan turned back, he pulled on one of her head phones and said. 

"Hey, you're good at art right?" He sounded a little worried. Clare was a little too dumbstruck to speak so all she did was nod. "Good" He said quickly. "I need your help then…I'll talk to you after class." Again all Clare did was nod, and he left.

Once he was gone, Clare felt like an idiot she should have said something. She was mentally kicking herself all through her next class. Science, and just because the teacher was evil they were talking about evolution, a topic that had once again become taboo, since some people believed mutants where the result of evolution, and the next step of human evolution. Her teacher seemed to want to set a spark to the match of this topic too. Being a small town, very few people liked the idea of mutants, and even less believed the whole evolution theory.

"There has even been a name given to what most people call mutants, just like humans are really, Homo sapiens, or Homo sapien sapien. Mutants are referred to in the scientist community as Homo sapiens superior…"

"Well aren't they a little full of themselves then!" One of the students called out. The teacher, Mr Lehrer gave him a cold look and said.

"Well, Ethan, why is it that you say this." Clare smiled to herself, this was a clever way to punish him for speaking out. Ethan, did not look to pleased though.

"Well sure they have powers they normal people don't have, but to call themselves 'superior', I donno but to me it seems that there powers aren't always that helpful. Like there's a couple out there, Kurt Wagner, umm, I think the other's McCoy something or other…."

"Doctor, Ethan, Dr. McCoy." Ethan nodded and started up again.

"Yeah, well there mutation makes them _blue_ how is that an evolutionary advantage?" Clare couldn't help but pipe in at that moment, she had looked into mutants and the 'X-men' she found it all very interesting, thought she understood why no one liked to think of them as the next stage of evolution, as that meant that humans or Homo Sapiens where no longer the top of the food chain, and based on the past, the less evolved always died out.

"You're wrong there." She said softly, and everybody looked at her, as she had never talked in class before. "Kurt Wagner and Dr. McCoy's mutations do not simply make them _blue_. Mr. Wagner also has the ability to teleport, and Dr. McCoy is super intelligent, with animal instincts and strength, and I don't think you can say that either of those things are not helpful." 

The debate continued for the rest of the class, Clare speaking more then she had before. She knew her stuff and she wasn't about to give up, because in the end no matter what one thought about mutants, their powers where helpful. The unfortunate result of all this was though, it made her look like she _loved_ mutants, someone even asked her if she thought it would be right for the mutants to kill all the humans. All this ended up with Clare heading to her art class rather miserable. She had almost forgotten that she had promised to help Ryan.

When she got to class though, he headed straight for her. It turned out that he was having trouble with some of the art history.

"I'm sorry Ryan, my art history notes are at home. We didn't need them today so I didn't bring them." She told him, surprised she was able to keep her voice even.

"Well then…I'll just have to come over tonight." He told her, nodding to herself. They had a test soon and she understood why he was rushing this. She bit her lip a little as she thought, her parents where working late, and it's not like anything was going to happen. There was no way Ryan had any interest in her, not when she knew Rachel was going on dates with him. She nodded slowly and said.

"Yeah we can do that."


	2. Chapter 2 The Hospital

**Author's Note. **

**If you have an questions, feel free to ask.  
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**X-men, and all canon character's belongs to Marval**

**Clare is all Mine**

X-Men Fanfic Chapter 2

Clare set a time with Ryan, one when her parents would still be gone. She didn't like doing this, she was a good kid and it wasn't like she had any reason to hide. She tried not to think about it too much and just do her work. When her Art class was over she headed to her locker. She waited back, not wanting to deal with Rachel, who she hadn't seen since that morning, and if she could she would like to keep it that way.

Once she was gone, Clare headed to her locker to get her bag. Ryan stopped by and she gave him directions to her house and then headed home. It was colder out then that morning; Clare wrapped her scarf tighter and shoved her hands in her pockets, muttering:

"Damn Canadian winters."

Clare made her way home; she turned on the TV and started to do her homework. Ryan would be there around 5 and she needed to do her own homework before he got there. It wasn't anything hard, just a lot of busy work, and she got it done no problem. She had the TV on a news channel as she did her work. There was something about the X-men on, she listened a bit, but didn't really feel that any of the problems the X-men had to deal with related to her, being human and all. Still she listened a little, it appeared that there was rumours about a 'cure' for mutants.

It was then that her doorbell rang. She jumped up a little and headed to the door. It was Ryan, she smiled and let him in. She showed him to the living room.

"So I got out my notes, what is it you need help with?" She asked as she sat down. He sat beside her a little closer then she thought he would.

"Where are your parents?" He asked looking around.

"Oh they work late normally. I'm mostly home alone." She told him, what Clare didn't know is that Ryan wasn't there for something as innocents as homework help, no he was there as the result of a rather mean spirited bet with his friends. Clare didn't know what the other students thought of her, most of the boys thought, that since she was unpopular, that she would be willing to give it up to any guy that gave her the time. This was the real reason Ryan was there, and they fact that her parents weren't home only made it all that much easier for him.

"You know, I could have asked someone else for help, rather than come over here." He started. Clare looked at him confused, she knew this of course, she wasn't stupid and she had wondered about this herself. She had just thought that maybe the others wouldn't be as much help. "I…I wanted to see you, you know outside of school. Turned out to be rather lucky, you not having your notes and your parents not being home." Clare was starting to get it now, she shifted back on the sofa, so that she was against the arm rest. Ryan just moved closer to her, vey closer, the air was getting warm around her, Ryan seemed to feel the heat too. Still he moved closer to her. Clare was so nervous, she wanted this, or she thought she did, he was so handsome. She was still so nervous though, and he was going to kiss her. She quickly put her hand up to her mouth, to block him. It was then that she felt his hand on her thigh, she looked down at it and then up at him.

"Ryan, what...what are you doing?" She asked, he smiled at her, and moved his hand up, and over her, starting to head under her shirt. She gasped, and suddenly her nerves where gone, she was angry, she didn't want this, she was not easy and would not let this happen.

She was starting to feel a little different too, the air around the two of them was so warm, in a fit of rage she pushed him back. She stood up, her nerves still humming in the back ground she started to bit at her nail, but they felt different. There was a spark from them, and in a moment that air around them was a light with flame. Ryan looked at her in horror; he was lightly burned and screaming in pain.

Clare fell to the ground, the pain was unbearable, what had just happened, was there a gas leak? Was she burned? Her back hurt so much, like something was coming out of it, and her neck was starting to hurt. The pain moved over her, up to her face, down her arms and legs. She was screaming too. She didn't even remember that Ryan was still there, in pain as well.

Clare woke later that night, the room smell weird, too clean; slowly she opened her eyes and saw a clean white celling. Slowly she looked around, she saw her mom and dad there, her mother had been crying, and her father had the dead look to him.

"Where…" Suddenly her parents jumped to life, but they won't look at her. She started to move a little, and found that she didn't hurt any more. "What happened…?" She asked. As she looked around, it was then that she saw them, the police, they stepped forward and said.

"We were hoping you could tell us that, Miss Laake." She looked at her parents, and then at the police.

"I don't know…there was an explosion…." She said softly.

"I don't know if explosion is the right word, Miss Laake. There was a fire, the strange thing is, you were found in the middle of the damage, and yet you're not burned…and more so…Perhaps you should take a look in the mirror." Clare was confused.

"What's going on? I…it hurt…"

"Just look in the mirror, when you're done, come into the hall so we can talk." Clare was confused, what about Ryan was he ok? Why where they acting like this was her fault? She looked at her mother and asked.

"Mom? What's going on?" Still she wouldn't look at her, she just pointed to the bathroom, tears rolling down her cheeks. Clare finally got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and she understood.

Her hair was no long mousey brown, it was a bright fiery red, and her eyes had gone from blue to yellow, like a cat or a lizard. The biggest change thought, was not a simple change in colour, she had scales. Not over her whole body, the wrapped around her neck, and up her cheeks, she lightly touched them, and saw her nails, a white/gray, looking at them the srapped over each other making sparks.

"Flint?" She questioned. She looked at the mirror again, dumbfounded, she then remember that there was pain on her back, as she turned she could see through the hospital gown that her back was covered in this scales too. As she took a better look at herself she saw that the scales cover her whole back, breaking into two path at her tail bone, they went down the outside of her thighs, they also covered her neck and shoulders, reaching up on her cheeks and down on her arms. Where the met the normal human skin, they faded in slowly making the change. No…not human skin, looking back up at the mirror she understood, she wasn't human, she was a mutant.

She looked at her nails again and made more sparks with them. Had she started the fire? She understood now, why her parents wouldn't look at her, why the police were acting like they did. She looked in the mirror and took a deep breath; this was not going to be fun. She changed into her clothes, leaving the hospital gown in the bathroom before heading back out, the nurses where all ready in the room, setting up the bed for the next patent, it made sense, she wasn't hurt and didn't need to be here. She walked right by her parents, they were still in shock from all this, and didn't even say anything to her. She was trying to be brave, but she knew that now her life would not be easy. She was a mutant in a small close minded town, and there was no way she would be able to hide that she was a mutant.

"Ah so…you" The one office asked seeming a little unsure about the whole topic. Clare just nodded to him.

"There are some questions we need to ask you, we've already talk to Mr. Cole."

"Ryan! Is he alright?"

"Yes, yes all fine just some minor burns." They told her. "Anyway. We just need to over what happened. If you could start just before then…" They told her.

"Well…Ryan, he was trying to kiss me. It was warm, like not I was flushed, like how it gets warm in the summer. I pushed him back and I was nervous, I was biting my nail, and I think there was a spark, after that it all happened so fast. There was heat and fire…I thought there was a gas leak…and then the pain. My back, and …well everywhere there's scales now." The offices nodded to her and finished writing what she had said.

"Well thank you. I don't think any charges will be filed, from what I understand this is normal, for well Mutants." Clare flinched a little, he was calling her a mutant, she had heard the word said so many other times, but it had never been said in relation to her.

"You might want to take a couple days off from school, to make sure you can control yourself." Clare just nodded as her own shock at last set in. Not shock at her looks, but at how different her life would be now.


	3. Chapter 3 The Day After

Author's Note

Comic books have a lot of trouble keeping their own continuity in check and while I'm going to try my best to have my character act in character, I will not be able to keep the continuity in check. I just don't think it's possible to have a fan fiction in continuity with the reason of the x-men world. Sorry.

X-Men Fanfic Chapter 3

Clare's parents wouldn't look at her the whole way home, and only her father spoke. Simply telling her that they would bring her supper and that she was just to go to her room when they got home, they wanted to tell her brother rather than have him see. He had worked that night, and would be off at 9, that gave them an hour to try and clean up. Clare didn't argue, as she knew it wasn't going to get her anywhere, still she didn't like this, they were acting like this was all her fault, and that she should be punished.

Once at home she headed up stairs, taking the longer way, to go through the living room. The sofa was burnt at one end as was the coffee table, and half her homework. She sighed and grabbed what wasn't destroyed and headed to her room. Once she was alone, she couldn't take it anymore. She started to shake, her homework dropped to the ground, and she left it there as she collapsed onto her bed. She started to cry, she felt horrible, confused and scared, and no one was trying to help her.

She sat alone in her now dark room, crying for a long time. There was a knock at her door, but the time she got there though, the person had left, likely her mother, as there was a plate of dinner on the floor. She picked it up and muttered.

"What am I in jail now?" Heading back into her room, she sat down and tried to calm herself. It was a late dinner, and with all that had happened she didn't eat that much. "I'll take it down later….once they've gone to bed." She told herself.

A half hour later there was another knock at her door, she looked at it confused, as she got up to open it. Her brother was standing on the other side.

"Hi…" She said shyly. Her brother was 2 years older than her, he was 6'1", and had the same brown hair and blue eyes that Clare had…had had. He didn't say anything; he just awkwardly stepped into her room. She looked at him nervously, and after a long moment she found herself saying.

"I'm sorry…" It was then that he hugged her, and she found it hard to keep control of herself at the moment.

"Don't say sorry, it's not your fault." He told her before letting her go. "So, mom and dad said they want you to take some days off from school…." Now she understood, He was going to be their messenger, at least he would look at her, and touch her, that was better. She might be able to live with this.

"Yeah that's what the officers said too…." She muttered looking up at him. "Mike….I'm scared…." She told him. She was, she was scared to go back to school, by the time she did, the number of rumours, perhaps it was best if she didn't think about that now. Still this created a great number of problems for her. Michael sighed.

"I know, everyone is Clare, but we'll figure something out, we have too." He told her. She nodded and gave him another hug. When she let go of him, he told her.

"Try not to cry too much, this isn't the end of the world." He then left her alone again. Clare was in a little better mood after this. She headed over to her bed again, pulling out her lap top, she started to play some music as she did some research. She was a mutant now, so she really should know all she could. She looked up a great number of things, from the science behind mutation, to known mutants. It seemed that the X-gene could be passed on for many generations without showing up, there was also a sort of classification system for mutants based on their power level. It was all very interesting but she didn't learn much at the moment that would help her. In the end, she left her computer alone and read for the night, trying to get lost in the world of the book, rather than the world she was in.

Clare spent the next week at home, her parents got a little better, but it seemed that they wanted to 'fix' things, rather than deal with them. It wasn't like they could change her, make her human, she wasn't, she was a mutant. Still she just left them alone, it was better than getting in a fight with them over all this.

When at last she did return to school it was just as bad as she thought, if not worst. Ryan was still bandaged up, and Clare couldn't help but worry how bad his burns where. From what she had learned, it was likely that she had started the fire. There where mutants that could control fire, but no create it. It seemed that her nails where made of some flint like material and were able to easily make sparks. With the sparks she was able to a rather large fire. She was just happy that the fire had died out when she had passed out. He was really playing it up though, saying that he didn't do anything to her, that she burned him for no reason. He would never look like he did before and everyone knew that, many in the school found this to be tragic and where treating Clare like a villain for what she did.

Thing where not easy for her now, she was a mutant, she _looked_ like a mutant, she had hurt someone and to top it off that person was a popular people, and she had never been a popular person, the odds were stacked against her.

Clare tried to act like everything was normal; she had her mp3 in and headed right to her locker. Rachel and a bunch of her friends where standing around the lockers, of course thing where going to start right away. She tried to step around them to get to locker, but it wasn't happening. One of the girls step right in front of her and pulled her head phones out of her ears. Clare gave a quick hiss of pain and glared up at the girl with her now yellow eyes. The girl had seemed like she wanted to start something, but at that moment all the colour slipped out of her face and was replaced with fear. Rachel stepped forward, maybe trying to save her friend from being burned.

"Don't burn her lizard, not our fault you're a mutant." She then pushed Clare to the side and grabbed her friends arm, pulling her away. Clare watched them go for a moment before opening her locker. She tried to brush off what just happened, she knew it was what was going to go on that whole day, she needed to be able to deal with this there was no escaping it now. She was what she was, just the other day she was saying how helpful mutations could be, and now she had her own mutants, in a way she should be happy about this. Still she had not thought about the difficulties that came with being a mutant, now she had to face it all the good and the bad.

The day went over not well, but it could have been much worst. Most people left her alone, seeming too scared to talk to her. She overheard great deal of rumours though, most seemed to be that she would burn anyone at the drop of a pin. She was upset about all this, she hadn't really changed, well yes she looked very different, and yes she had powers, but that didn't mean that her personality hadn't changed, she was still the same girl, she hadn't even really wanted to burn Ryan, things just got out of hand.

Her science class proved to be very interesting, since the topic of mutants was revisited, and she couldn't help but feel that it was just for her.

"Yesterday we talked about mutants and the first mutation that occurs at puberty, new science has come forth showing evidence of secondary mutations as well as other branches of mutants." The teacher started as he looked around the room his eyes falling on Clare for a moment, with a look she could extremely uncomfortable."Some believe that secondary mutations among mutants has to do with the vast number of mutants now present in the world." He continued on this topic, going into natural selection, and after a while finally just speaking about evolution.

Clare was happy when she finally got to her art class. She sat in the back of the class happy to just keep to herself and draw. Sadly, this was her one class with Ryan. She was trying to block out the world when he came up to her desk. He slammed his hand down on her desk making her jump. She looked up at him, his face and neck where covered in banages.

"Second degree burns! You gave me second FUCKING degree burn." He was pissed and Clare was scared she back up and he reach forward and grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her forward.

"Let me…" Just as she opened her mouth he hit her. His fist made contact with the scales on her cheek and there was a horrible cracking sound. Ryan gasped in pain and dropped Clare, she fell to the floor and rubbed her cheek, that hadn't hurt nearly as much as it should have, and that sound.

"My hand!" Ryan screamed, Clare pushed herself up and looked over, his hand was contorted, it looked broken, what had happened now?

It turned out that his hand was indeed broken, Clare was lucky and was not punished, since Ryan had started the fight and she hadn't done anything. So she went hope, wishing she never had to go back, but knowing she wasn't that lucky.

Clare ended up skipping a fair bit of school, her parents not caring if she went anymore. They seemed to be making some sort of plan. Clare was starting to get use to her powers and how she looked, and she wondered about her scales. It took a long but she was able to learn how strong they were. She tried to cut the scales, they wouldn't cut, and when hit they absorbed some of the impact, she still felt the hit, or the stab but it did little to no damage. She was happy about this, her normal skin was still as easily damaged as before, but to have this protection it made her happy, it made her feel safe, as it should.

After another week, with her parent barely speaking to her, Clare had been looking for easier way for her to live with her mutation, she had a plan and was going to bring it up at dinner but parents spoke up first.

"So we're going to go to New York" He mother said, in a surprisingly matter of fact sort of way. Clare looked up at her shocked as did her brother Michael.

"What why?" He asked suddenly.

"Well your sister needs to." Their father started. "There is a cure for this problem." He said waving his hand at her. "And the first clinic to open to the public is in New York. So we will be leaving Friday." He told them. Clare's jaw dropped, they wanted to 'fix' her, they weren't going to give her a choice in this? Mutation was not an illness, to think there was something out there calling it's self a cure, it was simple crazy. Her parents hadn't talked to her in weeks, she knew how they felt about her being a mutant, but still they were her parents, they should love her no matter what.

She couldn't handle this; she put her knife and fork down and left the table without a word heading to her room. She couldn't do this anymore, she couldn't go to school, her parents didn't want her around, not like this, she was unhappy, but she didn't have to be. Pulling out her lap top she was able to make her self smile, even if just a little. She would go to New York, not for the cure, but there was something in New York she wanted, more specifically, there was somewhere in Westchester County, New York she wanted to be, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.


	4. Chapter 4 The School

**Author's note**

Again I'm not trying all that hard to keep this fanfic in continuity with the x-men movies/comics/shows what have you. Sorry about this. I am changing Clare's last name from "Laake" to "Chase" this change has nothing to do with events in the story, it is simply that I didn't like the name "Laake". For those of you that are interested I am starting to do the pencil's for this story in comic form.

X-men and canon Character's belong to Marval

Clare and all OCs belong to me

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><p><strong>The X-Gene Chapter 4<strong>

The gate where towering, Clare suddenly felt very foolish, sure she had gotten to the school but what good did that do her really? It was a school for the gifted, sure she had good grades, but not good enough for her to be considered 'gifted', not that she had even really thought about trying to get into the school, she had only come because it was run by Professor Xavier and he was a known mutant advocate, but really what could he do to help her?

Her mind buzzing, Clare simply stood staring at the gates of _Xavier's School for Gifted Youngster. _Her parents had brought her to New York because the first clinic with the so called 'mutant cure' had opened here to do test runs, since the 'doctors' claimed that the cure worked differently depending on the mutation. Clare had pretended like this was what she wanted but for some reason it wasn't. Sure school had been a living hell with her mutation and after everything that had happened she should want her life to go back to how it was. The thing was though, Clare didn't feel like she had changed, she still felt the same like she was the same person, she just looked a little different…ok a lot but still did that really matter all this much?

It wasn't easy, but Clare had gotten away from her parents, she had enough to grab one of her suitcases and get on the subway to Westchester County. Now that all seemed easy, looking around again Clare saw an intercom. 'I guess I should see if there's anyone I can talk to, I guess?' She thought to herself, and just as she thought this the gates started to open. She jumped back scared for a moment by the sudden change. She saw coming up the driveway a man on a motorcycle. 'Oh, that's why it opened.

As the man came up to the gate and saw her he slowed to a stop. He was a short man, but muscular, with one of the most interesting hair style's Clare had seen, it was beyond words. It was strange though, as clear as it was that he was going out of a ride, he didn't have a helmet or any protective gear on really. Looking at her the man raised an eyebrow, not seeming all that pleased, he asked in a rough voice.

"What'cha want kid?" Clare was not quick to answer and I was clear that the man was getting more annoyed by this. After a moment she muttered.

"Well…this is Professor Xavier's school right?" She was nervous and it showed. The man sighed and nodded.

"I see…" he muttered as he turned the bike around and added. "Well come on, I'm sure you'll wanna talk to the professor." He got off the bike and started too walked beside it, when Clare failed to move he turned and in a rather harsh voice had asked. "Well are you coming or not kid?" She jumped and grabbing her suitcase she followed him. It was an awkward walk, the man seemed annoyed that he had been delayed in this way, and Clare had no idea what was going on, or what was going too happened now. Just before they reached the school she said.

"My name is Clare…." The man turned at looked at her, now standing just in front of the steps and said.

"Logan, you stay here. I'll be right back." Clare nodded to the man as he walked off with the bike. She looked around herself, at the large school, which look more like a university than anything else. 'At least I made it past the gates…' she thought to herself with a smile. After a couple moments Logan returned, she ventured a shy smile, which was not returned.

She was lead inside, the halls of the school where lovely, having a warm homey feel to them. She smiled a little, always keeping an eye on Logan while still trying to look around at the grand style of architecture. Soon they reached a set of large double doors and just as Logan was about to knock a voice from inside said.

"Come in Logan." The man opened the door, while Clare stood in shock. It was a strange thing to have happen, not only had there person inside known someone was at the door, but they knew who it was. The young mutant quickly looked around to see if there where cameras or something that would explain what had just happen.

The door was being held open for her though, and it hit Clare that she was being rude. She headed into the office, muttering how sorry she was.

"Found her outside the gate, though I'm betting you already know that professor." Logan said to the man behind the desk. It was with action that brought Clare's attention to him. An older man, likely in his 40s, sat in a wheelchair behind the desk, Professor Xavier, in all his bald glory. Professor Xavier nodded and said.

"Thank you Logan, you may go now." Logan nodded and left the room. Xavier then turned his attention to Clare. "Sit please." He motion to the chair in front of his desk. As Clare sat down she couldn't help but feel like a child called to the principal's office. Xavier seemed to be watching Clare closely, and when she didn't say anything he asked.

"So why is it that you've come here?" Clare looked up at him; she didn't really know where to start.

"Well… you're a mutant advocate…and I researched your school…after well…" She pointed to the scales on her face. "My parents brought me here because of the cure clinic. But I don't want the cure. I don't know how to go about this, I'm sure I'm only being a bother to you…I just thought you might be able to help…" She was rambling and incredibly nervous.

"Why don't you start with your name?" He said with a bit of a laugh. He didn't seem the least bit upset that she was there. Clare smiled weakly and said.

"Clare Chase." Xavier smiled at her and said.

"Well then Clare, why don't you start at the beginning?" Clare nodded and started to explain to the professor how she got her powers, what had happened to Ryan, and how much her life had changed. Xavier nodded along, not seeming to surprise by anything she was saying. She told him how she left her parents to come to the mansion, and how she didn't know what she was going to do now.

"Well Clare, we should call your parents, I'm sure they are worried about you." He said at last when she finished her story. Clare didn't seem pleased about this, she was worried that they would simply want her to return and get the cure.

"Clare, you don't have to get the cure if you don't want. No one can make you." She nodded a little.

"But… they really don't like mutants…I don't think they're going to just let me choose…"

"Well let's call them and see. I'm sure I can help them to understand." Clare nodded and the professor turned the phone around for her. She picked it up and dialed the hotel number. She asked for her parent's room. Her mother picked up, sounding extremely worried.

"Clare! Oh honey where have you been!" She asked, sounding like she was about to cry.

"Well…" Clare explained to her mother that she had left and headed to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngster, and that she didn't want the cure. Her mother was not pleased.

"Clare, you don't know what you're saying. We can fix this; you don't need to be a freak."

"Mother, I'm not a freak!" It was at that moment the Xavier waved her for her to hand the phone to him. She nodded and handed the professor the phone.

"Hello, Mrs. Chase, my name is Professor Xavier." There was a pause; Clare could tell her mother had cut him off. She was worried now, what was her mother saying to him? He nodded a little to himself and when he got a chance to speak again her said.

"Your daughter does not want the _cure_; it is very possible for her to lead a happy life without it…" Again he was cut off and after a couple more moments he handed the phone back to Clare. It was her father speaking now.

"Clare, if you don't come back right now, and come to the clinic with us, well, don't bother coming back at all then." _Click_, Clare was in shock, she slowly place the phone down. Professor Xavier watched her for a moment Clare moved to get up.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you…" She didn't have much choice, she didn't know what she thought would have come from coming here, she would go to the clinic and then go back to the hotel, it wasn't like there was much else she could do now.

"What are you going to do Clare?" Xavier asked his voice calm and soothing. She looked over at him seeming very sad.

"I'm going to go to the clinic…"

"Do you want the cure then?"

"No."

"Then stay here." He told her as if it was the logical thing to do. Clare was shocked; she stared at him in disbelief.

"I'm sorry Professor, I don't really have the grades or the money to get into you school." At this the professor laughed.

"Oh but Clare you are very gifted." He moved out from around the desk. "You see, my school is a school for mutants." He said with a smile. Clare was shocked, but it made sense, she laughed a little.

"_Gifted children?_" She said and the professor smiled and nodded.

"I know it's not perfect, your parents seem to have given you a bit of an ultimatum, but if you don't want to …go to the clinic. You have other options, you can stay here. There are after all other's in situations much like your own." He moved towards the door.

"Here let me show you around before you make your choice, I'm sure this is a lot to take in." Clare nodded, thankful for the kindness the professor was showing her. She licked up her bag and he added. "Leave it here, it'll be safe."


	5. Chapter 5 A New Life

Author's note

Again I'm not trying all that hard to keep this fanfic in continuity with the x-men movies/comics/shows what have you. Sorry about this.

X-men and canon Character's belong to Marval

Clare and all OCs belong to me

The X-Gene Chapter 5

3 Years Later

Clare hadn't gone back to the hotel that day, professor X had said if she didn't want to get the cure that she could always stay here, at the school, and that what she had done. It had taken a while but she had grown to like the school and had become comfortable with who she was and her mutation, for the most part at least. She wore jackets a lot, and never wore shorts, she didn't hide the scales on her face, but she didn't show any of the others off either.

Now living at the school meant living in a dorm room. The dorm rooms where larger than most, but the bigger ones mean you ended up with a roommate, not a horrible thing…well hopefully.

Clare had been lucky; she had gotten another girl, around her age, a mutant with the power to phase through solid objects, Kitty Pryde. Clare liked Kitty, they too of them got a long rather well, better then Clare got along with most, sure they had their fights, but Kitty was rather upbeat and it didn't take long for them to get over things and go back to being friends and roommates.

There had been some buzz around the school and some of the other students were worried, there had been rumors of a new anti-mutant group called the Reavers. Really a new one? Why didn't these people just join one of the 20 thousand groups that where already out there, had to be easier to join then make a whole new group.

"What do you think, do this anti-mutant groups haze there new members? Is that way there always seems to be a new one every week? Maybe it's easier to make a new group then go through the hell of joining an existing one."

"Haha, you might have a point there drags." Kitty said with a laugh, Kitty had taken to calling Clare Dragon, fire powers and green scales it fit, it seemed though that even that wasn't good enough and she had started to shorten it down. "Mind you this is a big deal, these reavers, I'm sure I've heard that name before, but that was a cyborg group….not anti-mutant…"

"Yeah there's something strange going on here, and they won't tell us anything because…"

" '_We're too young'." _The two girls chimed at the same time.

"At least they let us train…" Clare said to Kitty as the two walked in to their math class. Having normal classes' everyday still was strange, it was strange because of how normal it was. Here there where, in a school full of mutants, not that anyone knew that, with a superhero team living with them, and a jet under the basketball court, but they were going to math, and had a test, that Clare hadn't studied for.

After a long day of classes that you could find at any normal high school, Kitty and Clare headed down to the lower levels of the school. Most of the students took some kind of combat class, if only to learn how to us there power correctly and not hurt others. Yeah seemed silly taking a combat class to learn how not to hurt others, but if you think about it, it makes sense. If you know what you can do to hurt someone then to not hurt someone you simply don't do those things.

Kitty and Clare where in a one of the higher level combat program, both of them wanted to be part of the x-men, Kitty had already had a couple missions with them. Hell her first day meeting the x-men she encountered the witch queen. Clare couldn't help but be a little jealous of her friend.

Their class was small, there was only a couple other people in it, including Danielle Moonstar, and Samuel Guthrie, a girl with Telepathic powers, as well as some other strange powers. Samuel on the other hand could release thermochemical energy and use it to fly; he also seemed to become unstoppable when he was in the air. Clare believed that there class was so small because Logan taught it, a lot of the other students were scared of him, and Clare could see why, hell she just about ran away from the school when she meet Logan at the gate, she thought she was in so much trouble. She had gotten use to him over the years, though she still got jumpy around him. Today they were sparing and Clare couldn't wait, the group was paired off, in the danger room they didn't have to worry about breaking things…well sort of, they had to worry about breaking the other people in the room, but other than that they were ok. Clare was paired with Sam and Kitty with Danielle. Clare's spirits dropped a little, Sam was going to be a harder one for her to fight. The match started and Clare bent low, her scales couldn't be cut and absorbed a little bit of any impact they took. She snapped her finger and some sparks appeared, and burst into flames. Over the past couple years she had learned how to control her flame, she could only use them within two meters of herself but that was all she needed. A small flame floated in front of her and as she looked up she saw that Sam was already barrelling towards her through the air, she was only just able to turn her back to him to take the hit, the force of which through her back and she hit the wall her flame going out. Sam landing beside her, she turned and pinned to him to the ground, she snapped again but as she was creating the flame Sam threw her off. She coughed a bit as she hit the ground; his earlier attack had done a number on her. She hit her nails on the ground and a wall of flames came up between her and Sam. Only an idiot would fly through those, even if they were weak due to their lack of focus. The fire went on, the two of them trading hits, but neither again any real ground. When the matches were called to an end bot Clare and Sam where beat, the two of them falling to the ground panting. "Good class kids, now go get some rest." Logan then headed out the door before any of the rest had even gotten up. Clare couldn't help but start to laugh, falling back on her back as she heard the other's join in. "Ouch…haha, ooh that hurts…" She heard someone say, in between some laughter she was able to get out the words. "You ever think he doesn't want to be a teacher?" Clare asked. "All the time" The others in unison. ***

Worries about this new anti-mutant group grew, even the professor was worried, so worried in fact that he started to form a new team, with some of the younger students, feeling that another team might be needed to deal with the growing problems in the city. The new team was dubbed _the new mutants_ not the most creative name but it seemed to work.

Clare was not picked to be on the team and Kitty had refused, calling them the X-Babies. Clare saw her point, why not just call them x-men? A large team could still handle a number of different threats, so why not just do that? Still Clare couldn't really argue with the professor's logic. The new team was going out to deal with them that night.

There had been some complications in the mission, Laurie gotten hurt, but one of the group had healed her.

"Wait one of the anti-mutant protesters healer her?" Clare hissed over to Danielle in their art class. Danielle nodded to her and Clare sighed.

"So now even mutants want mutants to go away….great, we just keep getting more enemies don't we."

"Well his teammates didn't seem all that happy about it, to be honest I don't think he knew…I mean he looked human, and then he somehow healed Laurie and then he changed…"

"Changed how?" Clare asked, though she could guess the answer.

"His skin, it changed to gold…" Clare's eyes got wide and she laughed a bit.

"A real golden boy." She joked; Clare had this habit, when she didn't know how to deal with something she ended up making bad jokes about it.


	6. Chapter 6 The Mission

**Author's note**

**Again I'm not trying all that hard to keep this fanfic in continuity with the x-men movies/comics/shows what have you. Sorry about this.**

**Would love to hear your thoughts on my story so far ;)**

**X-men and canon Character's belong to Marval**

**Clare and all OCs belong to me**

The X-Gene Chapter 6

Joshua Foley ended up coming to the school, it wasn't like he could go back to his anti-mutant group now that he was one, by the looks of it, he'd taken quite the beating before he showed up at the school. The professor, of course let him in, he would never turn away someone in need, the other students however where not as welcoming. Laurie was rather nice to Joshua, he had saved her life after all, David Alleyne who had gotten a new roommate out of all this, was not pleased.

For the most part though things hadn't changed at school, at least not for Kitty or Clare, they had class and testes and other troubles that any other teen ager would have. Clare had seen Joshua around but had yet to talk to him, after what had happened with her parents Clare tried hard to avoid anyone that had anything to do with any anti-mutant group.

Lightly hitting Kitty's hip with her's Clare pointed down the hallway at a tall dark haired man.

"Look who it is." Clare said with the most ridiculous smile on her face. "Peterrr" She said drawing the name out as Kitty blushed deeply. "OH come on! Go talk to him!"

"I have…you know that!" Kitty hissed, trying to pull Clare the other way, but couldn't.

"Yeah and wasn't the whole problem that you where to wittle?" Clare said in a mocking baby voice. She smiled and pulled Clare over with her. "Well guess what honey, your older now, besides you could at least be friends."

"Alright, alright I'll talk to him! God you're pushy!" Kitty snapped at Clare as she walked over to Peter. Clare smiled to herself, and said.

"If I wasn't pushy nothing would get done around here…" She hung back a little, giving Kitty and Peter a little time to themselves. She watched her friend a little and was happy to see Kitty smiling, hell even Peter seem happy. Slow she headed over to them; if this kept up they would be late for class.

"Hey Peter, long time no see, how was life off earth?" She glanced over at Kitty and raised her eyebrows little; she couldn't help but tease her friend.

"It was good, me and Katya where just…" He seemed awkward, more awkward then he normally was, just as he was looking for the words Kitty said.

"Catching up." Clare looked at Kitty and raised her eyebrows again. _So she didn't tell him I sent her over, for the best. _

"Well as much as I would love to catch up, we…" She nodded to Kitty, "Have class to get to, we can talk later though." She said as she linked arms with Kitty.

"Yes, I think that is a good idea Clare." Peter said as he headed down the hall behind them.

"That was embarrassing you know! And mean sending me over to talk to him…." Kitty muttered.

"Oh don't be mellow-dramatic! You were enjoying yourself, don't lie to me."

"Ok...maybe I did." Kitty said her face turning a rather bright red, Clare just started to laugh.

The day past rather normally, Clare couldn't stop thinking about how awkward Peter had been, what could have happen? Maybe it was nothing, he'd been away for a while maybe it was just a shock, or something.

Clare was heading back to her dorm room when she was stopped by Scott Summers. Shocked but happy to see him.

"Need anything, Mr. Summers…." She said softly, she never knew what to call others that where just a little older than her. She felt like Scott was too old for her to call by his first name, but too young to be called mister.

"God you make me feel old." Seemed her though the same. "Anyway, the Professor wants to see you, we sort of need your help…" Clare was shocked; she nodded a little not knowing what to say after a moment she said.

"Help? Like on a mission…."

"That's how it seems." Clare smiled brightly and nodded. "Hey I wouldn't get to over joyed, from the sounds of it, this isn't going to be an…._enjoyable…?_ Mission." Clare nodded, as she suppressed the need to jump up and down for joy. "Meet us down in the lower levels." And with that Scott was gone.

Clare had quickly dropped off her books in her room before running down to the lower levels of the mansion. She hadn't even waited to tell Kitty. When she finally got down to the lower levels she realized that she didn't know where to go from here. As she stood there feeling a little stupid she heard some voices behind her, she turned and smiled as she saw Strom and Jean-Grey heading down the hall. She wasn't all that pleased to see Jean, but seeing them would help her get to the place she needed to be.

"Clare! How lovely to see you, I take it Scott told you to be here." Ororo said happily, Clare nodded her voice somehow gone, which was likely for the best, since she had a habit of saying horrible things to Jean. She didn't mean to, not really the two had just gotten off to a bad start and have never been able to fix things. "Well then come child…things will have to be explained." Storm said as they reach where Clare had been standing, she was pointed to one of the doors along the long hall and nodded as she entered the 'danger room'. The holograms in the room had been set up to make it look like a comfortable happy little office, and Clare couldn't help but wonder why they didn't just do this in the professor's office. Scott, Logan, and Professor Xaiver where already in the room. Clare smiled a little, as it finally hit her that she was a good deal younger than anyone in the x-men. She sat down shyly and waited from someone to say something, and of course that someone was Professor X.

"Glad to see you all made it down here." He sounded off, upset, Clare watched carefully, what was going on, why would they ask her to join them on this mission, they couldn't have just suddenly changed their minds about her being too young.

"We've gotten word, some old friends you might call them have informed me about a number of mutant kidnappings. All the victims are young females, and all of them have some sort of physical mutation." It was then that the professor's eyes fell on Clare and she understood, she was going to be bait, whatever their plan was, they need her to play victim. "We're not sure where these girls are being taken, or why…" He trailed off and Clare filled in what he had left out _or if their still alive. _Scott cut in;

"You'll have a tracker on you Clare, we'll know where you are the whole time, you won't be in any danger." He told her, trying to reassure her.

"Little fire ball can hold her own, I think it's these kidnapper's safety we should be worried about really." Logan cut in.

"Yes, yes. Clare we need you to, well we need you to be kidnapped, hopefully they will take you to where ever they are keeping the other girls. Once there we'll move in getting you and the others out. Are you willing to help us?" The professor finished, waiting for Clare.

"Of course!" Clare said almost jumping out of her seat.

The professor laughed a little and said. "Well then, let's get you ready, I would like to wrap this up quickly before anyone is hurt."

**Hope you enjoyed, and hope to hear from you! Till next time!**


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